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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday leveled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce American military presence there as he continues to feud with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US-Israel war against Iran.
Trump’s threat comes after Merz earlier this week said that Washington was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership, criticising Washington’s lack of strategy in the war.
“The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump said in a social media post o n Wednesday.
Washington has several major military facilities in the country, including the headquarters for US European Command and US Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States.
The threat to draw down US troop presence in Germany adds up to Trump’s rally against NATO for the alliance’s refusal to assist the US in its two-month-old war.
However this is not the first time Trump has expressed plans about a troop cut down in Germany.
During his first term in the White House, Trump also moved to cut US troops in Germany because he said the country spent too little on defense.
In June 2020, Trump announced he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops who were then stationed in Germany, but the process never actually started. Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.
Merz-Trump relationship
Earlier on Wednesday, Merz had said that his personal relationship with Trump remained “as good as ever,” but the Geman leader said he had “had doubts from the very beginning about what was started there with the war in Iran.”
Merz met with Trump at the White House in March, just days after the US and Israel began their bombardment of Iran.
At the time, Merz told Trump that Germany was eager to work with Washington on a strategy for when the current Iranian government no longer exists. Merz also expressed concern that an extended conflict could do great damage to the global economy.
His concern, like many other European leaders, has only grown as the US and Iran have yet to come to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which about 20% of the world global oil supply had flowed prior to the start of the war. It has been effectively closed since the conflict began on 28 February.
“We are suffering considerably in Germany and in Europe from the consequences of, for example, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Merz said Wednesday, hours before Trump posted his threat on social media. “And in that regard, I urge that this conflict be resolved.”
Merz added that his government was “on good speaking terms” with the Trump administration.
For his part, Trump has hardly been containing his frustration with Merz.
On Tuesday, he wrote: “The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Trump said adding that it was no surprise “that Germany is doing so poorly, both economically and in other respects!”